Response to a Ghost

January 14, 2004

"Do you remember that poem you wrote about ghosts?" asked Jaime-girl.

"I don't write poems. I tell stories," I replied.

"No, it was a poem."

Although I don’t identify as a poet, that never kept my friend Jenny from stealing some of my lines when she was in school for Poetry. Now and then she'd tell me, "I stole that line about blah blah blah..."

Good artists borrow, great artists steal, and all of that nonsense.

I thought about it for a moment and finally said, "Yes, I remember."

"Well," she said,  "I never told you this, but it inspired me to write a response."

"Send it to me, I want to read it."

She hesitated before saying, No.

“It’s not really a response if I didn't get to see it,” I said.

She told me that I misunderstood; she meant it was a response to herself.